


Bat Burger Chronicles

by lalablue0



Series: 413am [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: Accidental Choking, Baby Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian Wayne Has Feelings, Easter Bunny, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt baby Jason Todd, Mall Santa Claus, Mention of Talia al Ghul, Vomiting, bat burger, where are your shoes?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27828637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalablue0/pseuds/lalablue0
Summary: A few times that Jason has had Bat Burger.
Series: 413am [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017310
Comments: 14
Kudos: 135





	Bat Burger Chronicles

**Author's Note:**

> Toddler speak written phonetically
> 
> Work of fiction
> 
> And in case you haven't figured it out by now- Unbeta'd. All mistakes my own. 
> 
> Also - leaving this one open to a part two in the future - but it won't be right away because I have a plan that covers the first five years. Then I have plan for Jason's next five years. and so on and so on. 
> 
> Again, I am floored by the responses I have received for this series. I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my crazy little 'verse.

\--

“Where are your shoes?”

“I dunno.”

Bruce ducked down to look under the table. No shoes. 

“You were wearing them when we came in.You haven’t left the table. Where are your shoes?”

Bruce continued searching the vicinity near Jason. The floor was pretty clean considering. Half a chicken nugget and an apple slice. No shoes. He lifted Jason partially out of the high chair and found nothing more than another apple slice. 

“Jason. Seriously, where are your shoes?” Bruce asked, exasperated. 

He was met with a wide eyed vacant expression. His lips were covered in the sweet and sour sauce from the nuggets and he wore a chocolate milk mustache. He wore the same stains on shirt and pants. Bruce knew he should have put a bib on him. 

“Look at you. You're filthy. Did you actually end up with any food in your belly?”

Jason held out his last chicken nugget and promptly dropped it on the floor. 

“Uh-oh,” Jason exclaimed. 

“Really?” Bruce leaned down and picked up the discarded food and placed it on a napkin. Jason reached out and strained to get the nugget back. 

“Want,” Jason whined. 

“No. It was on the floor. Eat your apple slices.”

Bruce continued searching for Jason’s shoes. He looked under his coat, in his pockets, the diaper bag, and he checked the floors under the tables on either side of them. 

Jason babbled away between bites of his remaining apple slices.

Bruce sat back down and sighed heavily. “How in the world did you lose your shoes?” 

Bruce was stumped. Bruce had taken Jason into the city to have a holiday photo taken with Santa Claus at the mall. Jason was excited as he waited in line. However the second he was rested on Santa’s lap, Jason wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. He knew Jason was wearing his shoes because he managed to get kicked in crotch as he pulled Jason away screaming and crying. 

He managed to calm Jason down with the promise of Bat Burger. He remembered putting Jason in the highchair, maneuvering his shoes through the leg holes. They’d been eating and Bruce looked down and no shoes. He was baffled to say the least. 

Bruce sighed again. He couldn’t leave the mall with no shoes on Jason’s feet. It was well below freezing out. His little socks would not be enough to keep him warm. 

Bruce kept glancing around, sure he would spot the light up Superman themed shoes any moment. Without feet in them, he suspected they couldn’t have gone far. 

Jason finished his chocolate milk with a lip smack and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Bruce packed up their waste and brought it to the trash bins. He was trying not to look too conspicuous as he looked around the food court for Jason’s shoes. He was perplexed. Shoes cannot just walk off on their own. 

Bruce pulled Jason from the high chair and propped him on his hip. He gathered their belongings and said, “Let’s get you cleaned up and we’ll head to the shoe store. How’s that sound?”

“‘Kay.”

Bruce lifted the high chair to return it to its place and he heard a thunk on the floor. He looked down and saw one of Jason’s shoes light up. 

“Huh?”

Bruce shook the high chair a bit and the other shoe fell to the floor. He lifted the high chair higher and saw the bottom of the seat was completely covered in sticky messes. Bruce figured that Jason must have gotten his shoes stuck to the bottom of the chair and somehow wiggled his feet out of the shoes. 

Jason pointed down to shoes that were now stained with who knew what and said, “Dada, ‘ook. My soos.”

World's greatest detective,who? 

  
  


—

  
  


Jason hadn’t fared any better with the Easter bunny than he had with Santa. He seemed to enjoy the seasonal mascots only from afar. Bruce would not subject Jason again to the experience. Bruce knew that after a freak out like he just had; Bat Burger was in order. 

Jason didn’t want chicken nuggets, he wanted a cheeseburger. Jason didn’t want apple slices, he wanted French fries. He didn’t want milk or even chocolate milk, he wanted a milkshake. The only concession Bruce made was the cheeseburger. 

Bruce cut the burger into small pieces and placed it on a napkin in front of Jason. Bruce pulled the chair with the booster seat as close to the table as he could. Jason was still small and should have been in the high chair. After the last time though, no. Bruce pulled disinfectant wipes from the diaper bag and went over the booster seat several times before he determined it satisfactory. 

The winter wasn’t quite done with Gotham yet. Their table in the food court was near the wall of windows that overlooked the parking lot and main thoroughfare outside. A light snow was falling. That silly groundhog lied, no early spring. 

While Jason didn’t eat his burger with a knife and fork as he did, his food was in manageable bite sized pieces. Bruce remembered to put a bib on him the time. 

“Jason, slow down. Make sure you chew everything up before you swallow.” 

Jason opened his mouth showing a partially chewed apple slice. 

“Close your mouth.”

Jason chewed for a bit and made a show of swallowing. He immediately began coughing. In the moment Bruce expected him to take a breath, he didn’t. 

It was one of those moments when he knew what he did but he didn’t really remember doing it because he felt he was somehow removed from his body and he was watching himself from a distance. Watching as he tried a hard pat on Jason’s back. When Jason only looked at him with utter fear in his eyes, he pulled Jason from the booster seat and pounded hard on his back several times. When that failed he watched himself open Jason’s mouth and dig his fingers down Jason’s throat and scoop out the macerated apple slice that had prevented him from breathing. He watched as Jason’s gag reflex was activated and he vomited the rest of his dinner in the crowded food court. 

Jason began to cry and someone in the food court clapped in celebration. 

Bruce pulled Jason into a tight embrace as he felt himself come back into his body. He was holding him. He was breathing. He didn’t care how many people were likely staring. He didn’t care about the sour acrid smell of vomit. He didn’t care that neither would finish their meals. His little boy wasn’t breathing. And now, he was. That’s all that mattered to him. 

  
  
  


—

  
  


_ Dick’s POV _

  
  
  


Dick had taken Damian and Jason to see the latest animated musical playing at the Cineplex downtown. Dami didn’t see the need for exposing Jason to what he considered the childish money hungry cult that made children blind followers. 

Dick would never tell a soul that Damian bawled through the big twist that revealed the protagonist’s mother was a figment of the imagination while she sang the current chart topping power ballad. He thought the plot was completely lost on four year old Jason. He loved to sing along though, thoroughly annoying Dami. Or at least Dami acted annoyed. Dick was so proud of Damian for how well he has taken to the role of big brother. Jason had everyone in his orbit wrapped around his cute little finger. 

After the matinee ended they walked a few blocks to Bat Burger. Dick knew the rules Bruce set about Jason and Bat Burger. The Robin nugget Bat Mite meal with apple slices and a chocolate milk was the go to. Everything must be cut into tiny pieces. Disinfect Jason’s booster seat and make sure he is wearing his shoes. That last one was an odd requirement, but Dick never questioned it and double checked as they entered the fast food restaurant that Jason was indeed wearing his shoes. 

“So what did you think of the movie, Littlewing?”

Jason hadn’t said very much since they left the theatre. Dick was thinking that maybe he hadn’t liked the movie or it was too much over his head. Jason chewed his bottom lip for a moment before he picked up a nugget piece. 

“I dweam of my mommy sometimes. She use ta sing ta me too,” Jason offered after a moment. He popped the tiny bite of chicken nugget in his mouth and chewed. 

Dick stared at Damian with his burger paused half way to his mouth. Dick put down his burger and wiped his mouth with his napkin. It had been a while since he had mentioned his mother. When he started talking, he would sometimes throw fits when he couldn’t find her in the manor. Dick thinks it’s been at least a year or more since he’d heard him mention her.

“Mama Talia use ta sing ta me too.”

Damian’s eyes widened and he dropped his vegan option. Dick doesn’t think they’d ever heard baby Jason talk about Talia. To have him refer to her as ‘Mama Talia’... He could only imagine the thoughts going through Dami’s head.

“‘Mama Talia’  _ sang _ to you?” Dami questioned hesitantly. 

Jason gave Damian a raised eyebrow and nodded, “I ‘member.”

Damian sputtered for a moment and then sat up straight. “She has a beautiful voice. Of course she sang to you.”

Dick suspected that Dami thought that he had been the only one to have heard his mother sing. To find out from the four year old version of his brother and not from the adult version must have been jarring. But it struck him that either incarnation of Jason had never really talked about his time with Talia and the League. 

The rest of their dinner was eaten in near silence. Jason occasionally babbled about the toy in his meal. It was a Matchbox like version of the Batmobile. Jason made ‘vroom, vroom’ noises as he pretended to drive it on the tabletop. 

“Jason?” Dami started, “Did Mama Talia ever introduce you to me before I came to Gotham?”

Jason chewed on his lower lip for a moment and scrunched up his face as he seemed to be searching his brain for the answer. 

“You was ‘ittle like me,” Jason beamed. 

Jason had met Damian before he came to Gotham? Did Bruce know this? Judging from the look on Dami’s face, he certainly didn’t know. 

After a moment Dami schooled his face and only offered a “Hm,” in response. 

“You was sleepin’ and Mama Talia sang a song and I fell sleep too.”

Dick watched Damian’s face for any sign that this new information was troubling. Dick barely perceived the subtle nod he gave before he began eating again. 

“Ahki?”

“Yes, Jason?”

Jason bit his bottom lip and then asked, “Can Mama Talia come see us sometime? I miss her.”

Dick coughed on the sip of soda he was taking when Jason spoke. 

“Uh-oh,” Jason said to Dick, “Daddy says take small bites.”

“You want to see Mama Talia?” Dami asked sincerely. 

“Yeah,” Jason beamed, “She sings ta me.”

Dami snorted a little. A holdover from his preteen days. “Father will not allow Mother in Gotham. She cannot visit.”

Jason looked a little deflated, “Oh, okay.”

He quickly recovered once he started playing with his toy car again. Dick and Damian finished their meals and packed up their waste to bring to the trash bins. As Dick was walking back to the table to get ready to leave, he took note of something unexpected.

“Jason, where are your shoes?”

  
  


\--


End file.
